# WOW. French face transplant lady... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366 "2006-02-07T07:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/1 "2006-02-07T07:44:36Z")
… looks great. I just saw a brief story on her. Outside of the still numb lips (which sort of droop and don’t move much) she looks really good. I’m impressed. I hope this takes for her and there is no nasty rejection. ---
**Author:** ![Leah\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@Leah\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leah_M)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/2 "2006-02-07T07:50:57Z")
I _just_ read about this two hours ago during my lunch break in _Newsweek_ at work. I was pretty impressed with the information on it. They said there are all sorts of complications with antirejection drugs, but I hope it works out. Suffering massive disfigurement from burns must be so terribly difficult to live with. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/3 "2006-02-07T07:54:08Z")
I thought it was a dog attack. I haven’t seen after wound but before surgery pictures. They did show a before picture of her and a picture of the woman who donated the face. I think at the end of the day she’ll look more like herself than the other woman. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/4 "2006-02-07T07:58:58Z")
[Link with picture](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4685202.stm). ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/5 "2006-02-07T08:04:56Z")
[and link to the gallery of cnn pictures](http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/02/06/face.transplant/index.html) Truly remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/6 "2006-02-07T09:01:51Z")
I gotta say, it looks a lot better than I expected it would. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/7 "2006-02-07T09:08:36Z")
I’d hit it… …with some one elses penis. What? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/8 "2006-02-07T12:09:09Z")
They couldn’t fix the teeth, I see? Still, I gotta admit, for having the face of a corpse grafted on over a dog mauling injury, she doesn’t look half bad. Score one for western medicine! Tanning might produce some interesting effects, though. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/9 "2006-02-07T14:28:33Z")
I’d guess they’d get to the teeth last. Get the roughest most important (to her) components of surgery done ASAP. Then, if she has the capacity for additional work, then can proceed with any dental work, and it can be matche to her new face/lips/mouth. …unless I missed some teeth joke. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/10 "2006-02-07T14:38:24Z")
Every time I hear this story I can only think of this French film that I saw as a kid, and which majorly freaked me out. It was translated as **eyes Without a Face** : > **[Les yeux sans visage (1960) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053459/)** > > Les yeux sans visage: Directed by Georges Franju. With Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault. A surgeon causes an accident which leaves his daughter disfigured and goes to extreme lengths to give her a new face. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/11 "2006-02-07T16:38:27Z")
Here’s a weird thought – matching colors (for instance, matching an existing paint color) I’ve always found really difficult. So how does matching skin tones work in this instance? The match actually looks pretty good in Ms. Dinoire’s case. But it would seem to me that getting a skin-tone match between a donor and a patient would be really hard, and that even a slighly bad match would be strikingly obvious. Or does the transplanted tissue somehow take on the recipient’s skin tone? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/12 "2006-02-07T16:40:15Z")
I agree that she needs a teeth transplant as well. She looks like she uses Shane McGowan’s dentist. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/13 "2006-02-07T17:25:09Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > Here’s a weird thought – matching colors (for instance, matching an existing paint color) I’ve always found really difficult. So how does matching skin tones work in this instance? The match actually looks pretty good in Ms. Dinoire’s case. But it would seem to me that getting a skin-tone match between a donor and a patient would be really hard, and that even a slighly bad match would be strikingly obvious. Or does the transplanted tissue somehow take on the recipient’s skin tone? Well, she has on fairly heavy make up, which of course hides a multitude of sins, the least of which is uneven skintone. (Scars would be the major one, I would think). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/14 "2006-02-07T17:26:46Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > I agree that she needs a teeth transplant as well. She looks like she uses Shane McGowan’s dentist. (Kalhoun shrieks in terror!!! :eek: ) I’m amazed that the skin tone was such a good match. I bet they use the same thing paint stores use to get the exact tone. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/15 "2006-02-07T17:29:18Z")
I also heard, that against her doctor’s advice, she’s resumed smoking. I wonder how that will affect her recovery? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/16 "2006-02-07T17:32:11Z")
Need for a face transplant: Reason #362 why you shouldn’t let dogs into the house. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/17 "2006-02-07T17:35:43Z")
I find myself wondering why the dog attacked her as she slept anyway?! Was it hungry? :eek: _shudder_ Why didn’t the family want the creature euthanized? Was it ever explained what caused the attack? ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/18 "2006-02-07T17:48:04Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I also heard, that against her doctor’s advice, she’s resumed smoking. I wonder how that will affect her recovery? When I smoked after having my wisdom teeth out, my dentist slapped me over the head with a rubber glove 😛 He said smoking contributes to bleeding (which is why I was back at the dentist’s) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/19 "2006-02-07T18:02:30Z")
Re. the hazards of smoking – this story was a topic on the cable newsy programs last night (on, oh, MSCNOX) – and some medical experts were saying that smoking was basically the worst thing she could be doing right now. Something about the carbon monoxide and other components of smoke interfering with the growth of capillaries, etc. And in a related story, it was reported recently that a medical study revealed that smoking can retard the healing of bone fractures by 40% or so. This was casually observed in army hospitals during WWII, but they didn’t know why it was so. The smoke interrupts the process of bone cells migrating to the fracture site and multiplying there (i.e., the creation of new bone mass). This is all IIRC, but here are a couple of links: a basic [overview](http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/brokenbones/a/smokingbones.htm); a [medically detailed overview](http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/painpag/wisdom/NSAIbone.html) incorporating conclusions from a survey of over fifty medical studies (page down halfway); and a more general overview emphasizing the link between smoking and [osteoporosis](http://www.niams.nih.gov/bone/hi/bone_smoking.htm). By far, the second link is the most informative, if wince-inducing. (For ex., smokers experienced a “fusion failure” rate twice that of nonsmokers following spinal fusion surgery, etc. etc. :eek: ) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366/20 "2006-02-07T18:44:04Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > I find myself wondering why the dog attacked her as she slept anyway?! Was it hungry? :eek: _shudder_ Why didn’t the family want the creature euthanized? Was it ever explained what caused the attack? I have a cat that tries to kill me every time I re-position. Maybe that’s what happened to her. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-french-face-transplant-lady/343366.md?page=2)